Howl (6 page)

“Oink, oink. Time to get up.”

Robin didn’t move. Suddenly, the covers were ripped off her bed.

“Hey!” Robin scrambled to pull them back. The room was freezing. She took a quick glance at the clock. Seven thirty? No! It couldn’t be! She’d wanted to get up early so she could feed the puppies. She jumped up and threw on some old clothes. She’d dress for school when she got back.

She ran to Griff’s and yanked open the door. Relentless came towards her, wiggling with excitement.

“Careful, girl. Your stitches —”

“Oh, she’s healed up now. Tighter than a drum,” Griff said. “Your dad told me he’s taking out the stitches any day now.” She was sitting quietly in a chair, a heap of puppies in her lap.

Robin nuzzled into Relentless, grateful she was nearly all healed. “Sorry I’m late.”

“Not to worry,” Griff said. “Between Relentless and me, they’re all fed now. Greedy little blighters. Have you seen how much they’ve grown in a week?” She grinned at Robin. “They’ll be opening their eyes any time now.”

Robin groaned. She didn’t want to miss that. “Do I
have
to go to school?”

Griff waved her off. “Go, get ready. I’ll be up in a few minutes to drive you.”

Robin went back to the house, changed and went down to the kitchen.

“Dad went to see a sick cow,” Squirm said as he slurped the milk from his cereal bowl. His spoon clattered to the floor. He picked it up and wiped it on his sweater.

“Wash it,” Ari ordered.

Squirm licked the spoon. “Yum. Germs!” He grinned and looked at Robin.

“Okay, get sick. See if I care,” Ari said, pushing the cereal box Robin’s way.

Robin looked at the clock. If she were back in her old life, she’d be meeting Kaylie right now. They’d be laughing and talking as they walked to school. Listlessly, she ate a few handfuls of dry cereal. Then she heard Griff honking, and the three of them gathered their things.

Seeing the pick-up truck with its big old-fashioned fenders, Ari rolled her eyes. “We actually have to get in that junk heap?”

The passenger door swung open and Squirm climbed in. “Cool!”

When they were all in the car, Griff yanked the green tennis ball that was taped to the top of the shift stick. There was a loud, grinding sound as she put the car in gear. They drove down the rutted lane, the four of them jostling against each other and sometimes up into the car roof. The drive got smoother when they reached the main road.

“Goodness, this is the first time since December the road’s got no snow on it. Spring must be on its way.”

They drove into town, stopping to drop off Ari at the high school. When they arrived at the public school Robin and Squirm would be attending, Griff handed them both a brown paper bag.

“Lunch. Pick you up here when school’s out. Tomorrow you’ll go by bus.”

Squirm looked at the school doubtfully. “But where do we go?”

“Oh, right.” Griff reached into her pocket for a wrinkled piece of paper. “Squirm, you’re in Ms. Robinson’s, room 212, and Robin, you have Mr. Lynch, room 315.”

So much for Griff trying to play “mom,” Robin thought as she walked Squirm to his room. Just as he went in, the bell rang. Great. Now she was going to be late for her own class, and everyone would stare at her as she walked in.

She found her classroom and hesitated at the doorway. A tall, thin teacher waved her forward.

“You must be Robin Green.” Mr. Lynch motioned to a seat at the front beside a girl who had glasses as big as water goggles.

Robin nodded and slunk into the vacant seat. She didn’t see the two books on the desk top. They made a loud “fwap” when they hit the floor.

“Klutz,” someone said. Kids snickered.

The teacher looked up, his voice full of warning. “Brittany —” He turned and started writing on the blackboard.

The girl in front of Robin turned in her chair. “Hi, I’m Zoey. But everyone calls me Zo-Zo.” She lowered her voice. “Don’t worry about Big Brat, I mean Brittany. She’s mean to everyone.”

Robin kept her eyes down. If that was supposed to make her feel better, it didn’t.

Mr. Lynch faced the class and began explaining what to expect in the term ahead. Robin had to force herself to pay attention. Usually, she would rivet her eyes on the teacher and take notes, no matter how inconsequential, but that was before. When things mattered. This year was going to be different. This year there was going to be no putting her hand up all the time, no being the star student. No extra stuff either like heading up the environmental club as she’d done at her previous school. Why should she? Where had it gotten her? Bad things
still
happened.

Halfway through the morning, Mr. Lynch told the class he was going to put them in pairs for a Social Studies project.

Robin groaned. What if she got partnered with Brittany?

“Okay, class, I’ll read out the topics,” Mr. Lynch said, “and you can put up your hand for the one you want.” He looked at Zo-Zo. “Zoey, will you write down who’s interested in what?”

Zo-Zo pulled out a notebook and clicked her pen in readiness.

Robin stared at the girl. She looked like the female counterpart to her brother Squirm with her small frame and freckles. But Zo-Zo’s hair was brown, not red, and she wore glasses. Huge ones.

“Some of the topics are environmental,” Mr. Lynch said. “And speaking of that, this year we have a student who’s won awards for her environmental work.” He unfurled his arm like a red carpet towards Robin.

Robin felt heat as blood rushed to her face.

“Now, Robin, since you don’t know anyone, I’m going to pair you with —” he scanned the class, “Brodie. Put your hand up, Brodie, so she knows who you are.”

Robin turned. Her stomach did a flip. A boy with a kind, lean face and the biggest, brownest eyes she’d ever seen smiled at her.

Zo-Zo leaned towards Robin. “Lucky you,” she whispered. “Brodie’s cool.”

He certainly looked cool, Robin thought. Something light and airy went through her chest. Maybe this school was going to be all right after all. Then she felt something crawling on her skin. It wasn’t an insect, but someone’s glare.

Robin shifted her glance and noticed the blonde girl behind Brodie giving her a mean, hateful look. The girl was large, not fat but big-boned, and her face was splotchy with anger.

Robin turned away. What was the girl’s problem?

“That’s Brodie’s super-sized girlfriend, Brittany,” Zo-Zo said as she flicked one of her long brown braids behind her. “She’s
not
cool. She thinks she
owns
Brodie.”

Mr. Lynch frowned at Zo-Zo for talking, then said, “Brodie, Robin, your assignment is to design a game to make the school more environmentally friendly.”

Robin bit her nail. Just what she needed, another environmental project that made no difference to anything.

Mr. Lynch paired the rest of the class and gave out assignments. When he was finished, he moved to the blackboard.

Zo-Zo waved her hand. “What about me, Mr. Lynch? You didn’t pair me up with anyone. Can I go with Brodie and Robin?”

“Sure,” he said, just as the bell rang for lunch.

Zo-Zo came and stood beside Robin’s desk. “Wow — an environmental hero!”

Robin stopped chewing on her nail. “It was no big deal.” All she had done was organize a paperless lunch campaign at her old school. Most of the job had been hounding people to bring their lunches in reusable containers. The problem was, the moment she’d stopped hounding them, they went back to their old ways. The whole thing had been a complete waste of time.

Zo-Zo stared at her. “Big Brat will really hate you now.”

Robin snuck a glance across the room. Brittany had gathered her books and was waiting for Brodie, who didn’t seem in any hurry to join her.

Zo-Zo tapped her pen against her lips. “The Kingshots act like they own everything.”

“Kingshots? My neighbour is Rick Kingshot.”

“That’s Brittany’s dad,” Zo-Zo said, raising her eyes to the heavens. “Whoa. Random. I wouldn’t want Brittany as
my
neighbour. It’s bad enough being in the same class. But her brother’s sort of cool. Good-looking, anyway. Conner. My sister’s got a thing for him. She says all the girls in high school do.”

Robin stared at Zo-Zo. Brittany must have been the girl on the back of the snowmobile the other day. Robin tried to swallow, but her throat was too dry.

“Rick Kingshot is running for mayor. My dad says if the guy wins, he’s going to shoot himself.” Zo-Zo pulled a digital camera from her desk. “And now you’re his neighbour. I’ve got to put this in my column.” She snapped Robin’s picture before Robin could stop her. “I have a column in the
Cottage Country News
! My dad’s the editor. I’ll put it on my blog too. It’s called ‘Kids Biz.’ Check it out.” She slipped the camera back into her backpack and led Robin into the cafeteria.

They stood in the food line. Brittany and Brodie were a few people ahead of them. Robin watched as Brittany blew large gum bubbles into Brodie’s neck. Brodie pulled away every time Brittany lunged towards him, but he was laughing.

“Brittany’s only at her dad’s on weekends,” Zo-Zo said. “So at least you won’t have to put up with her
all
the time. She stays with her mom during the week.” She sighed. “I wish I could stay with
my
mom.”

Robin wondered whether to ask Zo-Zo where her mom was. But what if Zo-Zo then asked about
her
mom?

“My mom lives in another town,” Zo-Zo said. “I don’t get to see her much.”

At least you can visit her, Robin thought. Or phone her. She’d amputate a hand to be able to do either of those things.

The line moved slowly, and Robin kept finding herself staring at Brodie. Then Brittany caught her looking at him and gave her another nasty look.

“Be careful,” Zo-Zo warned. “She’s got a mean streak. So does her brother, Conner. Someone told me he kills raccoons just to get their tails.”

Robin pulled her eyes away and began examining the various lunch options behind the counter.

“I’m getting fries,” Zo-Zo said, pulling some money from her pocket.

Robin sniffed the sandwich Griff had given her. It smelled funny. Deer meat? She tossed the sandwich into the nearest bin and searched her pockets for spare change. Finding some coins, she ordered fries too. When their orders came, she followed Zo-Zo to the condiments table and loaded the fries with ketchup. She lifted her plate and turned.

Brittany loomed in front of her. She seemed so much bigger up close. Robin stared into her thick neck and tried to step around her. But Brittany moved as she moved. Their arms jostled each other, and Robin lost her balance. Her plate of fries skated across the tray, spilled down her front, then clattered to the concrete floor. The cafeteria hushed and dozens of eyes stared at her chest. She gazed down at herself. Drools of ketchup were splattered across her favourite top.

Humiliation flooded through her. As she looked up from her shirt, she heard a soft click and saw Zo-Zo holding her camera. That night, a photo of Robin and her ketchup-stained clothes was posted on the Internet for all the school to see.

Robin sat with Griff on the straw floor of the barn. The puppies had their eyes open now and were crawling all over each other, stepping on each other’s backs and heads and anything else that was in the way.

“You’d think someone gave them beer for breakfast,” Griff said, chuckling at the drunken way the puppies lost their balance and continually fell over.

Robin laughed. Here in the barn with the puppies was where she was happiest. She loved watching them wiggle and wag their way around, yipping at each other’s tails, ears, and noses and biting anything they could get into their mouths. At the moment, one of them was biting Griff’s finger.

“Yikes,” Griff said, pulling her hand away. “They’re getting teeth!”

Robin laughed. “I know!”

It was good to sit down. She and Griff and Squirm had spent the morning moving Relentless and the puppies from Griff’s to the barn so they could have more room. Ari was supposed to help, too, but so far she hadn’t shown up. Neither had her father. But then he had work as an excuse.

“You sure the puppies will be warm enough out here?” Robin rubbed a puppy’s stomach. The skin there was as soft as velvet.

“We’ll put the heater on at night,” Griff said. “If we need it. Last night it was so warm, it rained instead of snowed. Did you hear it?”

Robin nodded. She remembered waking up to the sound of it drumming on the tin roof of the shed. She looked around the barn. Something inside her still felt uneasy about the puppies being out here. “What if wolves get in?”

“We’ll keep the barn door latched. Besides,” Griff said, pointing up at the rafters, “don’t forget, we’ve got the protection of our killer owl up there.”

Robin tilted her head back and looked at Owlie. She didn’t understand how a stuffed bird could keep an eye on anything, but she didn’t say that. Besides, she had to admit, she kind of liked the idea of Owlie keeping watch.

Relentless nudged her sleek head against Robin’s shoulder.